Innovation is the lifeblood of the marketer – not just in promotions but across the whole marketing mix (that’s also known as the 4 ps).  Markets and customers change – and at a faster rate today than ever before.  What are you doing to keep up with the changing demands of your customers?

Innovation has been on my mind this week because we at The Purple Edge have just launched our new Group Coaching Programme in response, we believe, to demand from the market.  Time will tell!  Many of you will know that one of my favourite quotes in marketing is from Peter Drucker:

“Because its purpose is to create a customer your business has two purposes and two purposes only: Marketing and Innovation.” 

So I got to thinking – is innovation actually a separate being from marketing?  Possibly not in my view.  But as I looked further into innovation I came across a strong contender for my new favourite quote:

"The sole purpose of marketing is to sell more to more people, more often and at higher prices.  There is no other reason to do it." 

This comes from Sergio Zyman, now a writer, speaker and consultant, but formerly the Chief Marketing Officer at Coca-Cola.  And, famously, the person responsible for introducing both diet coke and new coke, the latter to reviews so disastrous that 77 days later they had to reinstate the original. 

Actually, the most interesting part of this story is about attitudes to risk and failure in innovation and marketing.  Sergio did indeed leave his job, “wounded”,  but was re-hired 7 years later.  And the final assessment of the Coke debacle was that it was a huge success – the re-introduction of old Coke had the effect the company was after, a huge growth in sales and a reversal of share decline.  You can read more about the story of Sergio and Coca-Cola in Fortune Magazine, "So you Fail.  Now Bounce Back.", here.

Right now you might be thinking so what? What has a mighty brand like Coca-Cola got to do with me?  Well, as the article above clearly points out, bigger risks do bring bigger rewards.  Understanding your own attitude to risk could give you real insight in your own approach to your business.  What risks have you taken lately?  Not stupidly (it is pointed out that Coke could have given themselves a safety-net, although you might argue the publicity value of the failure gave them the real boost) but using the wisdom you have about your market and your products?  Do you have the confidence to take a big decision and innovate to keep your company ahead of the game? 

We’re taking a small risk in the grand scheme of things with our new Group Coaching Programme – but risk and innovation will definitely be addressed by anyone brave enough to take the risk to come along and invest in creating ‘amazing marketing’ for their business!